The Hero Lost to Time
by Rives
Summary: The Hero of Time awakens in a land not his own, he is lost, weaponless, and - for the first time in a long time - afraid. But he is here for a reason, as he always seems to be... Rated T for later violence, though it may not need that rating.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: One Door Closes...**

Zelda proceeded slowly through the Lost Woods, tears in her eyes as she approached the pedestal in front of the Deku Tree. She arrived in front of the Deku Tree and pulled a rusty sword, a blade that had once been beautiful and more powerful than any other before or after it. She pointed the blade down and inserted it into the pedestal, where it let out a brief flash of light before going dark.

Zelda knelt and started to cry, hands over her face. Such a grief she hadn't felt since the Calamity.

The Deku Tree watched, feeling her pain as she wept.

"Loss such as this is something you can never grow used to."He said, in a mournful tone,"A hundred years ago you would have felt regret, but today there is more than that. You feel grief. A grief you haven't felt since the Calamity. Hyrule has lost the Hero of Time, to Time's own grasp. This world may never see someone as inspiring as him again." The Deku Tree let off a sorrowful sigh before continuing "A man who after a hundred years, a man who didn't know himself, a man who could have lived life without ever listening to the voice that whispered to him. A man who did the right thing in ways no one else could comprehend. Link may be lost to our physical world, but know this Zelda, as you lived on in his memory, he will live on as The Hero of Time for the rest of eternity. He will never be forgotten..."

Zelda looked up from her hands, her face wet with tears, "I know this Great Deku Tree, but this grief is one I hoped never to feel again. There was nothing I could do to stop the ruthless entity that is time from taking its Hero from us. I feel selfish, wanting him to be here. Wishing I was gone instead. This Sword was the last reminder of him, but without any Evil to defeat, the Sword has no more power in this realm. Now it is just as lost as he is, and I am left only with grief."

"Zelda, you are never left with grief alone. Their is always more, even if you can't find it right now. Out there in Hyrule is something new to discover, to explore, to create, someone new to meet. You are never alone, and I hope one day you will smile again, I already miss the warmth of your smile...greater even than the sun.."

As the Deku Tree finished speaking they lapsed into a comforting silence for several minutes.

"Thank you Great Deku" Zelda said standing up. "You always know the words that will comfort me the most. I hope one day someone - or something - will give me a reason to smile, but rest assured, I will bring its warmth to you again."

Zelda started to turn away from the Master Sword when it started to glow an eerie blue, a humming sound filling the air.

"What?!" Zelda shouted as the Master Sword started to melt into blue light and disappear into the air. The Forest went quiet as the last specks of blue disappeared.

Koroks gathered around, as the Deku Tree and Zelda both stared in shock at where the Master Sword had been. Its entire triangular pedestal had melted away with the blade itself.

"What happened?" Zelda asked the Tree as she stepped gently onto the patch of dirt where the Master Sword had been seconds ago.

The Deku Tree smiled faintly. "The Master Sword has a mind of its own Zelda. There is only one reason I can think of for its actions."

"But the Master Sword hasn't spoken since The Calamity, what could it be doing?"

"Returning to its owner."

Fin

 **Author's Note: this is my first ever FanFic to be published. A crossover of Monster Hunter and The Legend of Zelda.**

 **I am using Breath of the Wild as my canonical back drop for Link, because I haven't yet played oracle of seasons/ages and Link Between Worlds. Link to the Past is by far my favorite, but I wasn't quite sure how Overpowers LttP's stuff would be. (Looking at you invincibility cape/cane..)**

 **The next chapter will feature the Monster Hunter universe, and I am not really picking a game as my "canon" since they can be played independently from each other. You can bet I'll be using monsters from all the games though.**

 **Anyway, please feel free to drop a review and let me know if this is an interesting read that I should pursue.**


	2. Chapter 2: A Link to the New World

**Chapter 2: A Link to the New World**

A light was piercing into his closed eyelids. This light was rather painful. He wished it would just go away. That would be better, wouldn't it? Less pain is good for everyone right? He rolled over to get the light away from his eyes and found his face on something solid. Rock Solid. And Uncomfortable. Whatever it was, it was not his pillow. A line in his mind slowly began to connect the dots. A bright light, a rocky ground, birds chirping, and that grassy smell he knew from being ragdolled too many times.

The thing he was on top of was not, in fact, his bed. But rather, an actual rock, in the dirt, outside. Wait, why was he outside? Rolled back over and stood up to take in his surroundings, only to be blinded by the sun, he stumbled backwards and tripped over the rock landing on his backside as his eyes adjusted to the bright light.

He could only think about how the first thing he did this morning was fall on his butt. He let out a sigh and stood up again, examining his surroundings. He was in a lightly wooded area, the sun peeking through the leaves just enough to be annoying. The ground itself had a thin layer of grass, with some bones laying around.

The man in question though was not alone in this little area. A predator observed him as well. The man was average in height, and looked well - built. He had long blond hair, pointy ears, and what looked like a pair of swimming trunks. He also had some kind of tablet hanging on his hip.

Alas, the predator hardly cared about this. It merely wanted to feed the pack. And harmless food stood right in front of it. It stepped out of the tunnel it was in and lifted its head to the sky letting out a loud screeching squawk several times, calling it's Pack to breakfast.

The Hunter reached down and picked up some mushrooms, crumbling them into a cylindrical flask that he put on his belt as he hummed to himself. He was clad in Star Knight Armor. This armor is a brilliant blue, with an equally Azure cape. The rim of the armor had gold lining and the shoulders had gold spikes on them. On his right arm was a blue, almost triangular, Shield with a gold pattern adorning it. On his hip was a gold handle to what looked like a rapier. All earned through hard work in the Arena.

To his right stood a woman in Serigios armor, gold scales covering her torso, legs, and arms. Hanging on her back was a quiver full of enormous arrows, and a gold bow folded to fit more comfortably.

"C'mon, do you really need more Exciteshrooms? We've seen how many Farcasters you have, you horde more than Kulve Taroth."

"You can never have enough Farcasters Klara. After all, I want to get far away from a lot of situations. Besides, I can share them!"

"You know what I think Vivax? I think you like Farcasters too much."

"If we are gonna point out peoples obsessions, maybe you want to talk about how much steak you keep in your room? It's not like you could eat all that in your life time."

"At least my steak comes with a variety of uses, your Farca-" Klara was cut off by a screeching squawk echoing through the woods.

"Hey, Klara?" Vivax asked, a smile spreading across his face.

"Yes Vivax" she replied as one appeared on hers as well.

"I was thinking we could go get the opinion of an unbiased judge, maybe a Velocidrome?"

"That only seems fair. Last one there is a rotten Gargwa Egg!" She said dashing off in the direction the Squawk came from.

Link stared at the bi-pedal Beast. It had a yellow crest on top of its head, and blue scales covering its body. It had short arms with sharp claws, long legs with huge talons, and a large number of sharp teeth. It was big enough to look over Link, but not so big as to be terrifyingly so.

The beast wasn't alone though. It had summoned through its squawk a group of much smaller individuals that resembled it very closely, though they lacked the crest that seemed to signify leadership.

The Velocidrome was something Link had never seen before. However, the first impression was that of a carnivorous Pack hunter, and Link seemed to be on the menu.

Link reached to his back and realized he didn't have any weapons he looked back at the Avian Beast as it waited until he was surrounded. Link grabbed a stick from the ground as the Velodrome charged at him, its mouth opening to kill him quickly. He jumped backwards narrowly avoiding its jaws and then kept forward himself raisning the stick into the air and slamming it into the Velocidrome's head. The twig promptly snapped in two. The Velocidrome gave what could only be described as a glare to Link before it kept into the air.

Gasped with surprise at the height it achieved before coming back down on top of him, forcing him into the ground with a loud thud and tearing into his bare shoulders with its claws. He tried to stand back up but it slammed its clawed foot into his chest pressing him to the ground. It Screech - Squawked again and the rest of the pack moved in, salivating at the upcoming meal.

TWANG!

A massive arrow slammed into the Velocidrome's side, knocking it off Link and into the dirt. Before the Velociprey could react an armored man dashed into the fray pulling out his rapier. As he did, a blue glow expandedover the blade, forming a much larger, deadly blue sword. His shield also gained a blue glow, expanding it in size as he bashed it into the head of a Velociprey, knocking it into a tree. He immediately spun around, sword arm outstretched, slicing into several more of the Velociprey as more arrows started to fly into the group, bringing them down.

"Hey guys!" He shouted. "We came here to ask for Velocidrome's opinion on something, but don't worry, we'll all get a chance to share! After all, sharing is Kirin!" He cut down another Velociprey as he spoke, easily taking on the pack.

Link stood up from the ground as the Velocidrom did the same. He would have to take this with a little more smarts, and a little less brute force, after all, he didn't even have a stock any more. The Velocidrom charged at Link again, faster than before as steam literally blew from its nostrils. Link waited until the last second and dodged under its head as it swiped its open mouth towards him. He grabbed onto its neck and sung himself onto its back.

The monster didn't take this well, as it immediately jumped into the air and found itself in every direction trying to throw him off. He held on as tight as he could, as it was preferable to be thrown off with the force of a Hinox arm.

"Hold it just a little bit longer!" The Man that had been helping him shouted, sharpening his sword.

Easy for the one not riding to say. He wasn't likely to be bashed against a tree and die. But as Link thought that the Velocidrom stopped thrashing. It had exhausted itself and was now gasping for air as it stood still.

"Perfect!" The Helpful Man shouted as he charged forward slamming the Velocidrome's head upwards with his shield and then leaping into the air to smash it again. The force of the blow was enough to knock the Velocidrome off its feet and Link fell to the ground.

"Now!" shouted the Man. Immediately a large arrow flew through the air and pierced straight through one of the airborne Velocidrome's eyes and out the other. The Avian Abomination smashed into the ground and stopped moving.

The bow - wielding Huntress dropped from her vantage point and walked over to where Link was standing, bruised and slightly scraped up, but not seriously injured.

"I'm Klara and this is Vivax. We work for the Hunter's Guild. Are you okay?" She asked Link as Vivax walked over to him.

Hunter's Guild? What was that? He had never heard of such a thing. As for his injuries, those could be remedied with food and rest. Link was more concerned with where he was. Nothing looked familiar here and he had scoured every inch of Hyrule.

"You mean to tell me you don't know of the Hunter's Guild? Klara sounded surprised.

"Well, you will probably be surprised when I tell you there isn't a Hyrule here." Vivax told him, "and now for the most important question, why are you only in underwear? It's dangerous to come out here without any form of protection, and let's face it, that twig is not even close to protection."

Link looked down at himself. He was only wearing the clothes he had when he was in the shrine of resurrection. As comfortable as that may be in the weather, it still wasn't appropriate outdoor wear. He had no idea where any of his clothes were, as he had been wearing them when he... when he... he couldn't remember what he wasn't doing before awakening on the ground.

"You can't remember? You must have fell from somewhere and hit your head. No monster out here would stop attacking you just because you fell asleep." Klara stated.

No, that couldn't be right, Link could still remember some things. A voice, Hyrule. He knew those words, they came to him with the ease of habit. He could recall so much, but not what happened right before he appeared here. He hadn't merely fallen asleep in his house and now he was here. There was a gap between then and now. Something must have happened to move him so far.

"Well we can't help you out here, we aren't exactly equipped to deal with amnesia. Let's go back to Val Harbor and see Ignis we can get some help for you there. Starting with clothes." Vivax gestured in what must be the direction of Val Harbor.

Link nodded and they started to walk in that direction.

"I don't think you managed to introduce yourself in your confusion. What's your name?" Klara asked him.

He told them.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Link, I am sure we will find help for you in Val Harbor." She replied.

"yeah, hope you don't get sand - sick though, because you are in for a Wilde ride if you do." Vivax replied as they exited the forest and entered a rather large desert area where a large ship waited in the sand.

Link felt the heat of the area, but he knew he could handle it. It wasn't any hotter than the Gerudo Desert after all. And if this was anything like seal - surfing he would take to it easily.

"People are gonna think your crazy. 'Gerudo Desert'. 'Seal - Surfing'. Those words mean nothing here. Not to us anyway. Climb aboard, we got a long trip ahead of us." Vivax said as they climbed aboard.

"To Val Harbor!" He shouted as the boat lurched into the desert sands and they took off into this new land...

~~~Fin

 **Author's Notes: as you can see, Link is not entirely out of place here. Both worlds have some similarities in that they typically have separated biomes, making it seem like a very quick shift from grass to desert, or desert to ice, as it keeps monsters in their respective locations easier.**

 **Also, armor in both worlds serves the same general function. They increase defense, and if you make them match you can get buffs. Attack ups, Heat/Cold resistance, element resistance. These are common buffs between the games. (MH obviously has much more though...)**

 **These facts aren't really important to the story, just something I picked up on while writing this.**

 **Anyway, I hope ya'll are enjoying this, feel free to drop some reviews or just leave an opinion or question in the reviews. I will try to address reviews in a non-spoiler way at the beginning of each chapter (if I have any).**

 **I am gonna stop typing before my Note becomes more than my story...**


	3. Chapter 3: Rough Sailing

Chapter **3: Rough Sailing...**

As the ship started moving Vivax guided Link down some stairs into a small, cramped room. It had a blue chest in one corner, and a bed taking up at least a quarter of the small room in another corner. Where the back wall should have been was instead a rectangular hole with drawn - back curtains on each side giving a view of the sandy terrain behind them.

Vivax walked over to the chest, "Fun Fact Link." He said, opening it and reaching in, "People in Val Harbor are going to think you crazy if you run around in your underwear."

Vivax pulled a tunic out of the chest and laid it on the bed. He also pulled out a small sword and shield and threw them on top.

"You also can't expect to survive out here without a weapon. I'm gonna day sorry in advance, because these were already on the ship when I bought it, so I have no idea where they've been."

That was okay. Link understood the need for protection from the elements. As well as the creatures that strives in them. At least a sword and shield combo was something he was familiar with.

Link threw the tunic on. It was a dirty green tunic, with a belt, fingerless gloves, and heavy boots. It had a green cap that rather completed the look. He sheathed the sword onto his back and put his shield on top of it (also on his back).

"Familair with it? You a hunter back in this Hyrule place you spoke of? Do they have monsters that need a little bit of...scientific examination... so to speak?"

Hunter. The people here seemed to stretch the definition of that word. Link was a hunter in the sense that he hunted animals for food. That was a hunter. These people hunted intelligent creatures that were terrifying to look at. Something more like warriors or soldiers to Link.

"Warriors? Soldiers? We haven't had a real war since the Great War thousands of years ago, and that still wasn't with another human." Vivax said, a little confused. "We have enough on our plate trying to survive without worrying about killing each other. Why would anyone want to do that?"

No war? They only fought these monsters that roamed the land? Did they not argue about what they needed from other towns?

"Argue about goods? Why? Everyone has something that someone else wants, so we just trade. This Hyrule place, does it have War?"

It felt like yesterday that the Great Calamity has struck, destroying everything. His past lost for the sake of a war that he barely won, and that was after a hundred years of struggle. It had been suffering beyond anything hey had ever imagined. After all that struggle he had spent the next several years in reconstruction, and he hadn't even finished that before he was lost in an unfamiliar place.

"That stings." Vivax replies. "But we all do things for a reason. I believe in the protection of any one I can. If I have the power to stop something terrible, I have to step up and do so. There are others more powerful, more famous, people who don't step up unless they are paid to. Don't get me wrong, I love money, but The is no number, no amount of Zenny worth more than a person's life. So, is Hyrule safe? Did you do what had to be done, even at the cost of yourself?"

Link was slightly taken aback by this deep thought the Huntsman had spoken. He seemed a little closed off at first glance. But Link knew he had done what was needed to save Hyrule. Zelda could reconstruct without him. She had said Ganon would never come back. He gave up reincarnation to battle Link for the fate of Hyrule. A battle Link had barely won. That left one is Zenny?

"That's your question? You don't know what Zenny is?" Vivax said incredulously, "only the thing that makes the world turn! Currency man! The whole reason I'm out here in the woods in the first place! My turn, what the hell is a 'Ganon' and this 'Great Calamity' thing?"

Link gave back an equally incredulous look. The Great Calamity and Ganon were unknown, unheard of in this area? How could that be possible? He almost destroyed the entire Kingdom of Hyrule and would have easily destroyed anything in this land.

"Easily destroyed our land? I don't think so. After all, you are hanging with some of the finest Huntsmen for hire there are! We've felled everything short of the toughest Elder Dragons, been praised by the Guild, and just saved your butt. Whatever creature you took down, I rest easy knowing we could take it too."

As Vivax finished speaking a loud crash splintered the wood above their heads, causing them both to duck, covering their heads from the wood fragments.

"Monster on Deck!" They heard Klara shouting.

"Well it's obviously not a flashbug!" Vivax shouted back as him and Link ran up the stairs.

Klara had been standing on deck for a while, leaning over rails that overlooked the main deck, she had merely been watching the sand blowing away in the wind. The trip was going smoothly so far, not a sign more than the tiny monsters swimming through the sand. She heaved a sigh. It isn't often in the life of a Huntress you get to feel bored. She should really cherish the moment while it lasted, because the Guild would no doubt have another assignment upon their arrival.

She wished she could cherish the boredom for what it was worth, but she didn't really enjoy doing nothing. She loved the action of the hunt, feeling her muscles burn from the pull of a thousand fires arrows, watching monsters look of rage end in a look of fear. Knowing the victory that came from hard work, that is what made this so worthwhile. Not the trips on the sand skiff through the desert. Flying would be preferable to this, at least their are monsters up their.

Very little could keep up with their sand skiff, and she wasn't exactly feeling like fighting an Elder Dragon like Jhen Morhan. If only one of those beasts from up above would happen to give a little skirmish before arriving in town. Something to brag about. Maybe just a little more than the Velocidrome. Something to drink to.

Klara snapped out of her daydream as a shadow covered the deck. Maybe this wasn't exactly what she meant. Maybe she should be more careful what she wished for. She looked up, hoping it wasn't something that would smash their small skiff into desert drift wood.

He silhouette of the monster was easily visible against the burning skyline, that of a Desert Seltas.

The Desert Seltas is a large, winged, insect - like monster. It has two horns and a light brown carapace that allows it to blend in to the desert.

However, they normally flew closer to the ground, were they could find their Queens. Klara wondered briefly what this one was doing when it made its intentions very clear, dive - bombing with incredible speed eating up the distance between it and the skiff.

In the time it took for Klara to pull out her bow the Seltas slammed into the skiff, splintering wood with the force of impact.

"Monster on Deck!" She shouted as she unfolded a large golden bow from her back.

She hard one of them about something indiscernible from below deck, but her attention was caught by the Desert Seltas. Namely the fact that it wasn't acting normal.

The Seltas had some kind of purple-ish slime covering its main body and wrapping around its horns. At first it could be mistaken for the Frenzy, a virus that increases aggression in a monster but typically leads to a quick death. However, Frenzy didn't manifest as some kind of slime.

Another give away about the abnormality of the Seltas was the fact that it had a rider. The person in question was dressed in heavy black armor and stood about eight feet tall. It had a large black sword in one hand, and a shield of equally large proportions in the other.

The armor it wore was more Knight-like than what they normally wore as Hunters, and most Hunters didn't ride monsters, they killed them.

This Dark Knight person jumped off the back of the Seltas an walked towards the door to the room Link and Vivax were coming up from.

"Hey!" Klara shouted drawing back the string on her bow. "You can't Just crater my skiff and walk off! Especially with some kind of deformed monster!"

The Knight ignored her and continued walking.

The Seltas braced its legs against the deck and aimed its horns at Klara, wings flaring out of its back, moving faster than the eye could see.

Bad news, Klara thought, aiming towards the Seltas and firing the arrow at it. The arrows made direct contact with its body, but shattered against whatever the purple slime was.

Klara realized what this meant as she barely had a second to dodge to the left, the Seltas smashing through the rails she had been leaning against minutes ago and sending the wood pieces flying everywhere.

Klara could only hope the Knight was a little friendlier to Vivax and Link than this monster was to her, but somehow, she doubted it.

Vivax had reached the door to the deck when it exploded into splinters from the force of impact behind it.

"What the -" He was cut off by the answer to his incomplete question. An eight foot tall, heavily armored Knight wielding a Great Sword in one hand and a shield in the other. It had the kind of look that screamed unfriendly.

Vivax pulled out his sword, the blue energy appearing around the blade and extending his shield size. He could hear Link unsheathing his blade behind him. Good. The guy had a little training in this Hyrule place, maybe it would help a little bit.

The Knight didn't hesitate a second before kicking Vivax, who had just enough time to lift his shield. The force of impact sent him flying back through the air. Link ducked allowing Vivax to fly overhead. Due to the unfortunate fact of being at the top of a stairwell, this meant his back slammed into the sloped roof, before he fell downwards and tumbled down the stairs.

Vivax groaned from the bottom of the stairs, but quickly pulled himself to his feet and took a position near beside the door. Whatever this guy was, he sure wasn't weak. Hope he has money, Vivax thought to himself, because one Velocidrome isn't going to cover repair expenses...

His train of thought was broken as Link landed back first with a crash on the hard wooden floor, recovering from the harsh impact quickly.

The Knight burst through the door frame, so big that it forcibly expanded the entrance to fit through. It continued to move towards Link, not noticing Vivax next to the entrance.

Here was the chance Vivax needed. He charged at the back of the Knight, raising his blade and leaping into the air in an aerial upper cut, slicing the entire back of the Knight.

It stumbled forward without a grunt, or yell, or shriek to indicate it was harmed, but Link still knew to take what little time he had, and slashed at it with his sword, aiming for the head.

His blade knocked the Knights helmet off as his torso armor broke from another blow to the back from Vivax. What they saw beneath the armor was enough to make them both take a step back in shock.

Link recognized the slimy, purple, glowing substance at first glance. Malice. Something he had thought he had vanquished forever. Malice covered this Knight's torso. It engulfed the entire head, and out of this malice stuck a single yellow eye, covering up the entire area of the face, and viewing Link with pure hatred.

The second where they all stood in shock was all the Malice Knight needed to recover and act. Without the burden of its armor it moved with incredible speed, slamming Link with its shield and knocking him into a wall while simultaneously kicking its foot back into Vivax's gut and sending him flying into the stair case, cratering it.

Vivax tried to pull his armored form out of the hole, struggling to free himself as the massive Knight lifted its blade and threw the entire sword at him. There was no way he would be getting out of here in time to avoid that, he closed his eyes, waiting for impact...

But it never came. He opened his eyes and saw that the blade was frozen an inch before his head, held in the air by some glowing red light.

He saw the Knight turn to look at he source of the light, and there stood Link, a tablet held in both hands, red beams shooting from it to the blade, holding it in the air.

The Malice Knight pulled a less massive blade from its side, and charged Link almost faster then he could react. Almost. As the blade made a long horizontal sweep, Link did a back flip over the blade and onto the ground, sheathing his tablet as he did.

Thankfully the blade fell straight down with a mound bang as it hit the floor. Vivax tore himself out of the hole, watching as this was more than enough time for the Knight to swing its sword again, which Link jumped to the side with so little time left before death it seemed like an impossible move.

As Vivax watched he could see Link's hand grasping the handle of his blade, and just like that, he was gone. He had been standing in one place and now he was right next to the Knight which had gained a few more slime-seeping gashes, but still didn't hesitate before kicking Link to the side. Whatever he had done it wasn't enough.

Vivax charged at the Knight lifting his sword and bringing it down in one swift motion, but the massive Knight moved faster, spinning around to face him as it lifted its sword to meet his, stopping it mid-stroke.

Vivax rolled under the Knight as it swung its sword again, missing. He struck at its exposed back, but it moved its arm at an alarming speed, its shield catching his blade and its sword coming around and crashing into his shield, knocking him back several feet, to the slamming into one of the curtains by the back exit of the sand skiff.

The Knight spun around and threw its shield with unmatched speed, sending it flying like the bullet of a heavy Bowgun, slamming into Vivax and knocking him through the wall into the dunes.

Vivax coughed as he stood up breaking into a rugged run trying not to lose his ship.

"C'mon man, I don't want to die alone in the desert! Come back!"

The skiff seemed to compromise, as it didn't come back, but it didn't keep going. Unfortunately , it didn't stop of natural causes...

As Vivax watched in horror, a large blue sphere of energy consumed a section of the bottom left of the skiff, blowing shrapnel every and causing the skiff to lurch to one side and then topple over, unable to support its own weight.

"Nooooo! How am I gonna afford to fix that now?"

Klara reached into her pouch and pulled out a bottle filled with an orange liquid. Maybe a little blast will knock some sense into this thing, she thought, attaching the bottle to her bow so it would drip liquid onto the arrows as she drew back the string.

The Desert Seltas didn't deviate as it flew down for another hit and run, but its momentum reversed as several arrows slammed into its slimey carapace, letting off sparks as they bounced off, igniting whatever liquid was on their tips and exploding instantly.

The Seltas crashed to the deck but quickly righted itself, turning to face the source of its pain, it saw Klara notching another arrow. The Seltas let off a screech and ran towards her, holding up its pincer-like forelegs as it did.

"Well shucks" Klara said to herself, " normally that stops these guys" she ducked as one of the incredibly sharp forelegs slammed into the wood behind her, cutting through it easily. Can't get cornered here, she thought, rolling under its raises arm and firing another arrow at it, which bounced off like all the others before it.

It was still enough to enrage the Desert Seltas though, as it screeched again and swung both forelegs, slamming them into Klara and knocking her across the deck into the wall right next to the door the Knight had gone down.

The only thoughts running through Klara's Head was how much that hurt, and how much she wished she had been a little bit more prepared. She groaned and forced herself to stand up. Her armor had absorbed most of the impact, but most wasn't all...

She was used to fighting as a team with Vivax or one of her other Hunting partners, the bow didn't exactly lend itself to a face-to-face confrontation. Especially with an unknown enemy like this Slimy Seltas.

Speaking of which, the Desert Seltas was charging horns first at her, oh joy...

She folded up her bow and jumped as the insectile monster slammed into the wall where she had been a second ago. She landed behind it, pulling out her bow again and firing an arrow into its back at point-blank.

It screeched, as the arrow didn't bounce this time. Maybe due to the lesser presence of the slime on its rear. She would keep that in mind, but either way, she would need help if she wanted herself and the ship to come through this fight in functioning condition.

As the Seltas struggled to free its horns from the wall Klara reached into her pouch, pulling out a small sphere and notching it on her bowstring. She aimed it straight up and fired it into the air.

As it flew it burst into red light, sparks flying, as it shot through the sky, burning bright enough to be seen for miles. Hopefully they were close enough to a city for that to matter.

Her attention turned back to the Seltas as it ripped its horns out of the wall, a large chunk of wood still caught between them as it turned to face her. She dashed away from the Seltas as it braces itself to fly again, wings moving at incredible speeds.

Klara ran across the deck to the other wall and jumped into it, pushing herself off and into the air as she twisted her torso, notching and drawing an arrow as she turned mid-air to face the Seltas. But she was to late, the Seltas tore through the air and slammed into her torso, knocking the air from her lungs and sending the bow flying to the deck as she slammed into the skiff's mast, cracking it as it slowly started to topple to the left, unable to hold itself up with only half a support.

It smashed into the dunes, fading from view as the skiff was carried forward by its momentum and another, smaller mast.

Klara was still pinned to the wooden pole by the Seltas. She quickly drew out her Hunting Knife as the Seltas opened its mouth and reached its forelegs towards her. No way she would become Seltas lunch. No matter how powerful the Seltas, it would be super shameful to have died at the hands of one. Almost as shameful as fainting to a Great Maccao. She lifted the Knife and slammed it into the Seltas' left eye. The Monster screeched dropping to the deck as it started to spasm trying to get the Knife out, dropping Klara as well.

She slammed into the deck beside the Desert Seltas, her body beginning to feel the wear of the battle as she rolled into her feet, watching it do the same. Her Hunting Knife still lodged in its eye. It screeched at her and then lifted its torso higher with its legs, allowing its abdomen to curve under its body.

Gargwawesome, she thought, as it pulled back and started to shoot off some yellow-brown spheres of gloop at her. She dodged to the left, avoiding one, ducking under another, and not quite jumping high enough to dodge the third.

When it connected with her, she felt her whole body start to spasm, losing control of her muscles as the paralyzing venom began to take hold of her body forcing her to the ground.

The Desert Seltas screeched triumphantly as it raised its forelegs to deliver the final blow. That's when a massive explosion took out the bottom left of the ship, causing them both to be flung to the dunes below as the ship started to capsize.

They both slammed into the sand rather painfully. The Insect on its back, struggling to get up. The Huntress, recovering from the paralysis and standing on shaking, weary knees.

The shadow of the skiff above them started to grow as it tilted towards them, the supports meant to prevent this from happening strewn across the dunes nearby.

Great, Klara thought as she tried to run away from the looming demise, didn't die to a Seltas no, I died to my own darn skiff!

The skiff was about ten feet from crushing her flatter than a Giggonox when someone landed in the sands next to her, seemingly from nowhere.

"Time to fly!" He shouted Lamont a using a sling on his arm to fire a hook into the air as he grabbed her and they both got pulled away from the falling ship.

Klara gasped as the air was once again knocked from her by the person holding his arms around the waist shooting into the air and dragging her with him.

They crashed down onto another skiff that seemed to be going in circles around the wreckage of her skiff which was sending of a massive cloud of sand, its own miniature sand storm.

"Glad to see you're all right." The person that had snatched her from the hands of death said.

"Glad to see I'm alive too..." she replied.

"Klara! That makes two out of three Cole!"

A familiar voice said.

"Vivax?" She said questioningly.

"Yup!" He said as she stood up on the deck.

"What'd ya mean two outta' three?" The man named Coke asked, "Two of ya' left two a ya' alive!"

"We made a friend along the way..." Vivax replied.

Vivax flew off into the dunes. It was just Link and the Malice Knight now. Link knew about the power malice had over others, but he had never seen it overtake a human form. Whatever this monster was it could no longer be called human.

The thought that it might have once been an innocent person that had been under that armor angered Link. It wasn't very often that Link didn't feel like holding back, but this Malice Knight had possibly taken the life of whoever wore the armor before it.

It had thrown Link around like a rag doll, and tossed Vivax off the skiff, and who knows what had happened to Klara on the skiff's deck.

And yet here it stood, looking like it had a right to be angry. That was wrong. Nothing should Harbor such hate without good reason. Link felt like he had good reason, and he wasn't going to let this monster leave here alive.

Link dashed forward side stepping a slash and ducking under another. The Malice Knight was not slowing down, not tiring at all. The same could not be said for Link.

He knew he only way to win this was quickly, he swung is sword only to have it blocked by the other's blade. The Malice Knight slammed Link with its shield before he could defend himself knocking him away and his sword to the floor.

Link jumped to grab his weapon but the Knight stomped on the blade, breaking it in two and then swinging down its sword to Link.

Link blocked the blow with his shield, which shattered from the force of the blow. As the Knight lifted its sword to deal the final blow Link pulled out his Shieka Slate and triggered a rune on it.

The Malice Knight stood, frozen in a yellow light, the Slate counting down the seconds till Stasis would break. But seconds were all Link needed.

As the Stasis broke the sword crashed down on empty space. The Malice Knight turned around quickly, looking for its enemy. It saw Link, standing in the doorway's remains.

Link pointed at the Malice Knight's feet. The Knight looked down and saw a eerily glowing blue sphere. It kicked it the second it saw it. The same second Link tapped the Sheika Slate, triggering an explosion that consumed the room right between both of them.

The room collapsed in on itself as the explosion took out the supports burying both Link and the Knight alive under the weight of the sand skiff. Link felt the weight, the pain, and then the darkness...

 **A/N: I had originally planned to keep Link's enemies entirely from the BotW game, but quickly realized that he didn't have a whole lot of variety in that department, so I decided that I would keep Link's background from BotW but allow enemies from other games to make appearances.**

 **Hence the Dark Nut (yeah that is the Malice Knight). Hope this is entertaining to you guys, and feel free to drop a review! As I said, this is the first time I have written a Fan Fiction so any constructive criticism would be appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4: An Unforgivable Failure

**Chapter 4: An Unforgivable Failure**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hyrule~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doors to the Yiga Clan's inner room exploded inward rubble flying everywhere. The room was square, and made of stone. In the center had a raised platform. Behind them was a hidden passage that would lead outside.

"Where is he!?" Zelda yelled, fury filling her like never before.

The Yiga Clan members turned, seeing Zelda with a five man Royal Guard escort.

"You are too late, soon he will be exchanged for Ganon and Hyrule will eventually be his." One of the seven replied menacingly, "But he would come back so much faster if we had your body."

"Indeed." The larger Yiga member agreed, "We will only have a body for his essence to occupy, but with you he might achieve reincarnation."

"No! Take them! Find Link's Body!"

The Royal Guard drew their swords and shields, specially made to mimic those of the Hero. The Yiga drew their Demon Carver, circular, spiked blades, lethal on all sides. The larger member drew a Wind-cleaver, a long sword that was sharp enough to cut the very air, leaving a trail of wind behind it.

They Carver wielding Yiga charged the Royal Guard, while the larger one teleported, leaving the Yiga symbol imprinted in the air for a few seconds, it then reappeared behind Zelda.

"Hello 'princess'." He spat the word, "You fight for a land that doesn't love you. Men, bound by duty die for you, but they don't love you. The knights brought here today included. Yet the Yiga, we fight out of love for our King. Don't you feel like you might be doing something wrong? Those who fight to 'protect' this land from us, they don't care for their ruler. But we do. Why don't you people love you Zelda?"

"Enough!" Zelda spat back at him, "These people need not love me, they need not even like me. They just need to love those around them. Their families, their friends, those are who they fight for. They do not fight for me, they fight with me."

"Really? And what about those who had no one to fight for? Those that still died because someone commanded it. Perhaps the best example is the man you came here to obtain. He is dead. A hundred years of fighting and he is dead. Where is his reward? There is no family he fought for, no friends, no memories. Yet he is dead. Because of you. Did you ever ask him if that is what he wanted? To die for you? For your wishes? Or were you to selfish to allow him to be happy? Because now he never will be."

Zelda was fighting back tears. Tears of grief. Tears of fury. "You don't know Link! He fought for the same reason I do! Because it is the right thing to do. He sacrificed more than I could ever imagine to defeat Ganon, to save Hyrule! My sacrifice, compared to his or the Champions, is nothing! Link didn't have to stay by my side after Ganon fell, but he chose to. He never told me why, I had given him no reason to stay by me after his victory. I mistreated him, misjudged him, one hundred years ago I was the worst person to him. I resented him. And he chose to stay with me after your ruler was slain. Now I will do the same for him, I will not leave him where he did not wish to be. He has fought to hard for Hyrule to be desecrated here. Now I am going to only request of you one more time, tell me where he is."

"No. Link has labored under the impression that you were right. We are going to change that. To show him that Ganon is the True King. You can not interfere. But you can help." The Yiga said, lifting his Windcleaver and bringing it down toward Zelda.

She lifted her hand, a small rectangular object activating, causing blue energy to ripple out creating a circular shield. The Windcleaver slammed into the Shieka Shield, bouncing off. Zelda pulled a cylinder off her belt and pressed a button, causing a blue blade to extend from the hilt, she stabbed forward as the Yiga was still trying to right himself from the unexpected defense. The blade dig into his ribs, the Shieka energy cutting through him easily.

"Did you think I would not bring every object at my disposal to stop you? The Yiga Clan will be hunted to extinction for this offense."

The Yiga man collapsed, to stunned to respond as he teleported away, probably to try and recover from his injuries. Not likely to happen.

Zelda looked over the Royal Guardsman, they overcome the other Yiga, and were ransacking the room for that which they had come for.

"Come over here!" Zelda called to them as she moved to the false wall. When she had been captured by Ganon she had seen Link open this to move forward. "Push that side of the wall!" She told the Guards as they arrived.

They grunted as they pushed the heavy metal wall, slowly turning the wall and revealing a tunnel on the other side. However, the tunnel was not empty, as Zelda expected it to be.

The shadowy figure jumped forward cutting down two of the Royal Guard before they could draw their weapons. The remaining three had retreated back to Zelda, standing in front of her. Watching the person step out of the shadows.

He was of average height, with blond hair. He had on some tan pants and a blue shirt. One that Zelda recognized. After all, she had made the shirt herself.

"Link? One of the guards asked.

"That's not possible!" Zelda said, "You died! I watched it happen! You can't be here now."

"Wrong." The impossibility stated simply. "The Yiga managed to accelerate the reincarnation of the Hero. They just had to tweak the process a little bit. That's why I still remember everything, though oddly Link seems to have lost the spirits of the Champions."

Hearing Link, if it was him, refer to himself in the third person set Zelda even more on edge than she already was.

"If you remember everything then why would you strike down those who seek to help you?"

"Help me? I have every memory, every thought that the Link you knew ever had. I am going to do better than he did. In no way did you ever seek to further anyone other than yourself! You are selfish, greedy, jealous. The Champions knew this, I knew it. But we pushed those thoughts aside. You were doing this for the good of Hyrule, not yourself. Right? That's what we forced ourselves to believe. After all, someone who sought only to better themselves could not always look out for the needs of her people. But no. Every time you looked at me, it wasn't with respect. It was with resentment. You resented me. I drew the Master Sword, not you! I had the King's favor, not you! I was the one who felled Calamity Ganon, not you! And you resented me. You hated me for it! Every time you looked at me I could see in your eyes just how much you detested all I had become. You used grief as an excuse to resent me. I pretended not to notice anything, but you refused to believe I was the Hero! Well, now I am not! I am everything you believed me to be Zelda! I am the False Hero, the creation of your twisted selfishness! But no one will ever suffer at your hands again! You will not leave her alive! Not while I draw breath to prevent your evil!"

Zelda gasped as he charged forward, grabbing one of the fallen Guard's swords and striking down another one before he could react.

The other two dashed forward, blades swinging from either side. It didn't matter, Link had fought for one hundred years, preparing every second, destroying Ganon's armies almost single handed. Two men were nothing.

Zelda could only watch as they quickly fell. In her defense. Link turned to her, his eyes a dark red as a cruel smile spread across his face.

"More blood on your hands, 'Princess'." He said. Zelda knew her weapons would not help her against Link. He couldn't be caught off guard so easily.

Link took one step forward when a women's voice shouted: "STOP!" They both looked at the entrance to the room. There stood a group of Gerudo warriors, the leader of which threw her spear directly at Link.

He easily dodged to the side, grabbing the spear and using its momentum to spin himself around, throwing it back with twice the speed. It slammed into the Gerudo, embedding itself into her gut and knocking her against the stone wall.

The others froze in shock. But Link didn't. He was too well trained for that. He dashed forward into the Gerudo warriors and started to strike them down.

"Run Zelda!" One of them shouted. And she did. She could not help, not without falling herself, and if what the Yiga said was true, she couldn't risk falling into their hands. She ran down the tunnel Link had come from. She knew it would lead outside.

She made it through the opening, the sound of battle echoing through the tunnel, following her.

A Rito warrior landed in front of her.

"Get on!" He shouted, and she listened without hesitation. The Rito burst into flight, accelerating quickly as the fled the Yiga hideout.

"What happened down their?" The Rito asked once they had reached a safe distance.

"An unforgivable abomination was created. An unforgivable crime committed. I failed to complete my mission and many are going to suffer for it." Zelda replied in a mournful tone.

The person down there was more intimidating then Ganon. It could fell people with words, mixing lies and truth with emotions to create weapons stronger than any blade. All while in the form of Hyrule's greatest hero.

But the last words he had spoken still stuck with her. More blood on her hands... and indeed it felt that way...

 **A/N:**

 **I hope y'all are enjoying this so far. Bet you didn't expect me to run the story this way, did you? Even whilst Link is in the world of Monster Hunter, the world of Hyrule still continues. Though you might be a little confused by the events that are occurring there. Bonus points if you figure out what is going on.**


	5. Chapter 5: Two-Way Traffic

Chapter 5: The Remaining one-third

It was very dark under the wreckage of the Sand Skiff. Hardly anything could be seen at all. Sand was falling onto the two still figures that lay in the rubble. Neither were breathing.

The larger one burst in a cloud of purple gas and evaporated, letting the sand fall to the ground. The second one however, began to glow blue, as an humanoid, fish-like form began to hover over it.

"It's My Pleasure." The form of Mipha, Zora Champion, said in a soothing voice before dissipating into the air.

Link gasped and choked, coughing up sand as he tried to stand up, before realizing there was only enough room to crouch. The Skiff has entirely capsized, and the roof above his head was actually the heavily damaged deck and innards of the Skiff in question.

No matter how many times Link did it, he didn't think he would get used to dying. He never stayed dead. Not for long. Mipha mad sure of that. The other champions all served their purpose as well. Allowing Link to avenge them and then sticking with him for the protection of Hyrule.

Link could here people talking from above him, but couldn't make out the words. He shouted a few times to get their attention. Link knew he was successful when he heard the wood above him creaking and cracking as someone stood over it and started pounding it in.

After a few blows the wood broke, falling down and filling the area with light...and more sand. Link coughed as he stepped back from the hole.

"Well jumpin' Jaggis your Man seems to have survived!" An unfamiliar voice said from the hole, a head blocking the light it was letting in.

"Naturally, the rest of us did why wouldn't he?" Vivax's voice replied. "He fought just as well as I did."

"So not tha' good than?" The unfamiliar voice remarked, a laugh audible in his tone.

"Can we just pull him up and get moving?" Klara's voice commented, "We actually had plans to do something today, but if you guys wanna just argue all day we might not have the chance."

Link heard two people sigh at the same time, as one of them grumbled something under his breath.

"Grab my hand." The unfamiliar one said, his arm reaching into the hole.

Link grasped it firmly and felt himself get pulled up easily. He gasped as the burning sun hit him in full, but he forced his eyes open to get a view of his rescuers.

Vivax and Klara both looked okay, if a little more sand encrusted then before. The new person stood there, hands on his hips, looking pleased with himself.

He was almost entirely dressed in black, black pants, torso armor, even a black fedora. He also had red goggles on, obscuring his eyes from view, while protecting him from the sun.

(Girros Armor)

"Nice ta' meet'cha fellow Hunter." He said, "Name's Cole, expert Hunter from the New World!"

"Expert huh?" Vivax said, "Yet all you have to show for your expert status is some Girros armor?"

"S'all I need." Cole replied simply.

Link ignored them. He had set his eyes on the massive skiff that Cole had presumably arrived in. It was much bigger than the simple one that Klara and Vivax has just lost and much better built as well.

Cole saw where Link's gaze had gone.

"Like it?" He said, "S'ma pride 'n joy it is. Takes me where I need 'ta be, be it land, air, or sea."

A vehicle for any terrain? Link doubted that, nothing could survive all terrain, if it was built for air, it would sink, he couldn't think of a way for it to function.

"You doubt that it could fly and float? Well, maybe one day you'll get 'ya see it do both, but for now, we gotta get goin' to Val Harbor."

Karla nodded, feeling that she couldn't really steer any conversation Cole was taking part in. He didn't exactly have a straight list of priorities...

Vivax however, had already boarded the skiff, glad to be aboard the Wyvern's End again Cole, though I must say, you have really beefed up the defenses up here!" He shouted down to them.

"Of course!" Cole shouted back, leading the rest of them on board. "I couldn't very well travel to the New World without a Dragonater no could I?"

Link stopped, standing on the center of the skiff's deck, to inspect their new transport. It had one large canon on each side of the deck paired with a ballista. It also had a large gong above the doorway that probably led below deck, similar to the setup of the previous skiff.

The ship didn't just have firepower, it also seemed built like a Guardian, with massive plates of metal covering the outside surface to keep it protected, and some kind of massive spear sticking out of the front of the skiff, presumably to face head-on dangers.

Link decided that once they had arrived at this Val Harbor place, he would use his Shieka Slate to document the entire skiff for Zelda. The thought of Zelda caused him some worry.

Wherever he was, she was not. She could hardly defend herself without him. Not that he underestimated her wisdom and determination as those were what had led him to victory against the Calamity.

Link felt the skiff lurch and start to move. Hopefully they would arrive at Val Harbor soon and he could get some answers.

Klara walked over to where Link stood.

"Do you need a potion Link? I can let you use one of mine if you need. That couldn't have been an easy blow to take, having the skiff collapse on you."

Link gave a slight smile. He had been crushed, but he didn't need a potion. Besides, he didn't know if the potion was made using fairies. Fairies didn't taste very good, no matter how he cooked them.

"Fairies? I don't know what you drink in Hyrule, but potions here are made with Honey and Herbs, and they taste great!"

Vivax interrupted, sticking his head between them to do so.

"And if you really got crushed, how are you still alive? And unharmed from the look of it. How do you know you don't have internal bleeding?"

The spirits of the Champions had protected him, as they always did. What more did he need? Food. Food was what immediately came to mind. He hadn't eaten since he had woken up in the forest.

"Well, I don't know who these 'Champion Spirits' are, but food is a Language I can speak, and Cole knows just how to cook it too." Vivax said, his attention now follow the same train of thought as Link's.

"Then let's go eat, we could all benefit from a meal." Klara said simply, before turning and leading them to below deck.

Link's stomach grumbled. He would have to see if they are different food here. Zelda would surely ask about that. Maybe he could do something worthwhile if he was stuck here anyway...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hyrule~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zelda shut the door behind her gently. Her head was hanging low, as if dipping itself into her thoughts. She needed to clear her head and this was the only place she could be alone.

After the Calamity left Hyrule Castle in ruins, she had spent most of her time traveling with Link, making sure that all of Hyrule would be able to return to prosperity and peace.

She had never really gotten around to repairing Hyrule Castle itself. It was something she almost dreaded. Seeing her Father's books, his notes, all of her effort, the ruin of Hyrule's peak laying in front of her. It was a thought to heavy to hold onto for long.

"Trespassing, are we?" A voice that used to make her ecstatic. Now it filled her with dread.

Link stepped out of the shadows under the stairs. He had his black blade, the Shieka replica of the Master Sword, drawn in his hand.

"Even after I died, you hadn't finished taking advantage of me? Were you going to take my home too? Like you took everything before it?"

"You are not Link!" Zelda cried pulling out her Ancient Short Sword and feeling the warmth of its blue aura. "You are a sick impersonation created by the Yiga, one that I will not allow to desecrate the Hero of Hyrule!"

But Zelda knew she couldn't face Link in single combat. Not if he still had the skills of the man she used to know.

"Funny you should mention the Yiga, seeing as they have taken care of the Royal Guardsmen that we're following you." Link said, a cruel smile forming on his face. The smile looked disfigured to Zelda, an expression she had never seen on Link's face before.

"What do you want with me?" Zelda asked, hoping to buy time for herself. She needed to figure out a way to leave, without him or the Yiga clan catching her.

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed Princess, but there is a stunning lack of Royal bloodline left in Hyrule, and I could very much use some of that to let Ganon back."

"Let Ganon Back?! I could never help with that."

"That's where you are wrong Zelda. By sacrificing you, or any of Royal Blood, I can break the barrier between this world and the one Ganon currently occupies. So you have two options here. Die at my hand, or help me make another of Royal Blood."

Zelda was horrified by the implications of 'making' another of Royal Blood, especially just to kill it. But before she could react to his words, a loud crash came from outside along with the shouts of unfamiliar voices.

Link made to move towards Zelda when the window next to the front door burst open, a member of the Yiga flying through the wreckage and slamming into the opposite wall.

Zelda and Link both froze.

The door was next. It exploded in fragmenting splinters, causing Zelda to duck protecting her head, Link raising his blade in a ready stance.

The doorway filled with a green glow as someone stepped into the building. (S)he wore green armor, seemingly aglow with green energy, spikes on the shoulders and head. A wing-like, semi-translucent, glowing green cape-thing came from the bottom of the helmet and extended down to about the waist.

It was a lot of glowing green to take in.

"Friend of yours Zelda?"

Before Zelda could reply otherwise the person whom has just destroyed the front of the house replied in a masculine voice. It was gruff and weary yet full of enthusiasm, as if he was tired but enjoying it.

"Not exactly. But you wouldn't happen to understand friendship, after all, I just beat up half your friends, the others Farcasted outta here real quick."

Farcasted? Zelda didn't know the term but it seemed to be referring to the Yiga teleporting away.

"Farcasted?" Link voiced her thoughts aloud. "Teleported maybe what you are referring to. Now I am only going to warn you once, step away from this battle, or lose your life. It is your choice."

"You'll be glad to know I'm quick to decide."

He grabbed Zelda by one arm, "Excuse me, Princess." He said and hurled her unceremoniously out the wrecked doorway.

"Fine!" Link shouted and jumped forward bringing down his dark blade to fell his foe.

Unfortunately for Link, the man dodged to the left, pulling out a large, sharp knife. He dodged another swipe from Link and stabbed forward.

Link was just as fast, dodging to the side and then dashing into the armored man, one leg kicking him in the chest and sending him flying into the Kitchen shelving, destroying it and causing a cascade of dishes onto the man's head.

"Last chance!" Link said raising his blade.

"Not for me." The man said, opening a clenched first. A bright flash burst out of his open hand blinding Link. The man took his chance pulling himself out of the rubble and punching Link through the staircase.

He ran outside to where Zelda was still getting up and heaved her over his shoulder, despite her undignified protests. He ran across the bridge and left the rubble behind him.

Link however, was not to be stopped so easily. He climbed out of the rubble, downing some food from his pouch.

He stepped through what could only vaguely be considered a door and whistled. A large horse began to take form from blue light swirling in front of him. Once the light had taken shape, the massive black horse with Ancient armor whinnied.

Link smiled. They would not get away...


	6. I used a Farcaster!

The rain poured down upon the armor-clad Hunter as he raced through storm, Zelda being almost dragged to keep up with him.

"What are you doing?!" He notes that she wasn't resisting his help, she just wasn't helping him too much. He chose to ignore her and focus on other things.

It wasn't often he fought another human, or Wyverian for that matter, as the pointed ears on these people suggested them to be. Usually he protected them from beasts to big to comprehend.

After all, there is no point fighting another if something even bigger stomps them all to dust. Humans where generally inconsequential to the beast's that roamed the land. Here it seemed less so.

 _Tha- Thwump! Tha- Thwump!_

The sound of massive hooves beating on wood and then gravel echoed behind them, but he dared not look back, electing instead to weave through the clear streets of the small town, reaching one hand into his item pouch while keeping a firm grip on Zelda's wrist even as she struggled to keep up and spluttered our weak protests.

He continued to run, now past a shop selling armor dye, now past a guard who yelled at them for their actions. It didn't matter. Not when a clang and silence followed his protests. The Hunter turned and threw Zelda, she rolled down the steep hillside to his right. Good, she would be safe for now. Not that her indignant shout would convince anyone.

WHAM! A great force slammed into him and sent him flying, crashing onto the road built along the hillside and skidding to a halt. It had hurt. A lot.

"You can't expect to outrun me!" Link shouted from atop the massive black steed, orange tail flowing behind it, ancient armor covering its head and torso.

"Don't need to Link," The Hunter replied, "I don't run from monsters, I just saved the bystander first."

"Hardly," The horse whinnied as Link stood on its back, performing a flip to land in front of the Hunter as he stood, "I see that you recognize me, even as you are not from this world. Perhaps an introduction before I kill you?"

The entity claiming to be Link reached behind his back and grabbed the hilt of a massive weapon. It was akin to a Great Sword; a two-handed grip followed by a massive blade, even as blunt as the stone weapon seemed.

"You can call me Sapphire. I'm a big deal back where I come from." Sapphire answered, his hand wrapped tightly around a small orb in his right hand.

"Tell me," Link said as he readied his Great Sword, "This weapon, do you like it? It once belonged to a great champion named Daruk. He used it to great effect, destroying the armies of darkness and saving his people many times."

Here Link placed the blade in a hand hold Sapphire had never seen before. Whereas normally the blade was held firmly with both hands in front of the hunter, Link held it pointed diagonally down behind him, his knees bent as if reading to propel himself.

"I killed that champion. It was by my power he was defeated. I created a weapon he could not combat no matter how skilled, no matter his strength, I knew he would fail." Now Link was bracing himself, the weapon still pointed behind him as he seemed to prepare for his next attack. "How would you like to meet the same fate?"

Sapphire didn't know what he had been expecting, but a spin attack wasn't high on the list. Link had spun on his heels, the massive weapon building incredible momentum as it spun, building up force.

Easy enough. Sapphire had fought the Duramburos enough times to to know how to handle such attacks. Normally he would roll under the attack and trip the monster, but he had no real weapons and the blunt blade was too low to the ground for such a maneuver to work.

Plan B it was. This was something he didn't tend to do often, seeing as it could result in having his legs shattered. But it was the only logical method of attack. He could run of course, but Monster Hunters didn't often view running as a valid plan, with Zelda out of the way he needn't flee anymore. The only thing that stopped a monster was death, so running was, at least for now, out of the question.

Or at least, running away. Sapphire charged straight at Link, performing a flip as he leapt over the spinning blade and jumped off Link's shoulders, causing him to fumble while Sapphire went skyward. He landed in a roll, pulling out his hunting knife as he turned to face his opponent.

Link had already recovered, running back towards Sapphire and lunging with the Boulder Breaker with incredible speed.

With the skill of a bowman Sapphire hopped backwards narrowly avoiding the blow before swiping his knife at Link. He really wished he had a better weapon, but transport here hadn't been that kind to him.

Neither was Link. He dodged at the very last second, flipping over the blade. Before Sapphire could even think to react three crushing blows slammed into him from all sides at incredible speed. The final blow slamming him into the ground from above, forcing him belly down into the stone walkway.

"You have skill, but I have a hundred year's practice." Link said as he lifted the Boulder Breaker, prepared to shatter the Hunter.

The sound of Sapphire chuckling caused Link to hesitate.

"Well, this fight wasn't exactly fair." Sapphire rolled as the Link overcame his confusion and attempted to smite him.

It hurt, a lot, must have broken his ribs, probably his shoulder too. It was better than being crushed though. He lifted himself to his feet with a groan as Link turned to face him again.

"Merely delaying the inevitable." Link prepared to strike again.

"You'd be surprised how long one can delay." Sapphire replied as he pulled out a small horn and blew into it, a single long note below forth from the curved bone before Link hit him again, sending him flying.

Sapphire rolled down the same hill he had thrown Zelda not long before, though he imagined it hurt him a lot more than it did her, given that he was sure that all of his ribs were broken and probably an arm now.

"What the -?" The princess yelped in surprise as he crashed into a tree, ending his rolling motion rather painfully, "You're not going to win like this, we need to leave now!" She pulled his arm before letting go at his grunt of pain.

"Why won't you move?!" Zelda shouted at the hunter uselessly as she glanced nervously up the hill, "Link will be finish you if you-!"

She was cut off the thump of boots landing in the grass behind her.

"Too late!" Link shouted, shoving her roughly aside. He no longer held the Boulder Breaker, but instead the blade Urbosa had slain so many monsters with. A perfectly maintained, shining blade, curved and silver, with a golden hand guard to complete the look. Now it was raised above his head, ready to finish the downed hunter.

Only to be prevented once more by the appearance of several bokoblin. This served only to anger him, as he easily dodged their clubs and struck them down. Zelda ran around the fight, which would be over in seconds, grabbing under the hunter's arms and dragging him despite his pained protests. Something she noted as a first since their meeting only a short period of time before.

She dragged him around the tree, his green armor shifting as he breathed heavily. Zelda leaned him against the tree, no hidden from Link's sight, if only momentarily.

"You need medicine, a potion, or possibly a fairy." She told him as he reached into his pouch again.

"Lucky me, I got just the thing, but first, you need to leave before all my effort is wasted."

Sapphire replied as he pulled a small sphere from his bag.

Before Zelda could inquire as to what he had pulled out, the tree he was leaning on creaked. The sound of Bokoblins screaming was soon silenced. Another shout coming from outside their vision and then a blade appearing through the tree trunk. It swept through it easily, as it was meant to, a true champion's weapon. It cleaved the tree from its base, causing it to fall to the side.

"No more tricks," Link spoke angrily as he climbed onto the stump, looking down upon the Hunter he was immediately over and Zelda in front of him, "No more running. Enough is enough."

"Maybe for you," Sapphire threw the sphere at Zelda's feet, a green gass bursting forth as she shouted in surprise, soon she was engulfed in the smoke and disappeared, "But enough is just getting started for me."

"What did you do?!" Link shouted at the Hunter that struggled into a standing position.

"A lot." He replied, "I brought a lot of neat tricks here, for example, that horn I blew. Attracts the local wildlife. I had hoped for something more impressive, but you seemed more than willing to play with another monster's food. And that will help more than any horn I could blow."

"You think another creature will save you?" Link scoffed, "I have bested everything under the moon, nothing can do more than delay the inevitable for you."

"Only you think that." Sapphire readied his hunting knife again, "Ready for round 3? Seems we're one for one so far."

"Then this is your game over." The gold-hilted sword rose into the air as Link leapt forward to cleave Sapphire in half.

Sapphire dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding his death, but immediately collapsed in pain, he hadn't had time to drink a potion or eat rations. He had underestimated Link and missed the one opportunity he had to recover. Meanwhile Link was unscathed and wasn't showing any signs of exhaustion.

Link picked up on this as he now walked slowly towards where Sapphire was attempting to pull himself up from the ground.

"No matter where you have hidden Zelda, I will find her," Link sneered, "I have seen every nook and every cranny of Hyrule. Not even the smallest measure has escaped my sight. She cannot hide forever."

ROOOOOAAAR!

Both Link and Sapphire froze at the sound as it echoed through the tree tops, blowing leaves and causing the ground to shudder. Sapphire let out a small chuckle that quickly turned into a cough.

"You mentioned that you beat everything under this moon, well, now you get a chance at something from my moon."

For a second Link was befuddled by this statement, but realization dawned as the massive Wyvern descended through the foliage, truly a sight that would have been majestic if the creature wasn't here to kill.

The beast was roughly ten feet tall and twice as long with triple the wingspan. It had red scales covering most of its body, mighty talons on its feet, Claws on its wingtips, and teeth that could easily crush bones. The King of the Skies: Rathalos.

Its massive form landed on the ground, the large wings creating a gust of wind that knocked both Link and Sapphire away. Sapphire immediately pulled himself up for the hundredth time, pulling a mushroom out of his pouch while Link was distracted by the Wyvern, smashing it into a sphere identical to what he had throw at Zelda, and promptly repeated the process on himself, disappearing in a puff of green smoke.

Sapphire reappeared at his makeshift camp, Zelda was already seated by a glowing fire. She jumped when he fell to the ground in front of her.

"Do you have any medicinal plants here?" She gestured around the camp as she helped sit him by the fire. "Anything to help with your injuries?"

Sapphire heaved a cough before gesturing at the blue chest, "Blue box, blue bag, has a powder."

Zelda was already digging through the chest, quickly retrieving the bag, a blue pouch with the letters EZ emblazoned on the front in a stylish font.

Sapphire grabbed the bag and burst it open, the powder swirling over his body, mending muscle, strengthening bone, and replacing lost blood in seconds. Once it had taken effect he stood and flexed both his arms up to test them.

Once satisfied, Sapphire obtained some rations from the same blue chest, offering Zelda some.

"I'm ready for any questions you might have now." No longer burden by injuries sapphire sounded like his old arrogant self again.

"Well," she replied, "I have a few..."

 **A/N:**

 **That's right all you faithful viewers, it's back! Sorry for the incredibly long wait, but mobile use has been the bane of my existence, maybe I should look into a laptop at some point...**

 **However, my ability to reply to reviews is oddly unhindered. So feel free to review if you have any questions, it took me about 20 minutes just to write the A/N while on this website, so I am just gonna finish right here...**


End file.
